Collecting, thinking, sketching

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Monthly Archives: October 2013

This time, a project caught my eye when walking through Coyoacan. Some people had embroidered handkerchiefs, and although at first I thought they were typical crafts for grandmothers, I realized what they were saying through embroidery. “Embroidering for peace. A handkerchief per victim” is the motto of the group “Red Fountains”, who propose embroidering handkerchiefs with the names or descriptions of each of the fifty million dead in the war against drugs.

I found information about this project, beautiful project, making public intervention in different places in the world. I believe in this kind of art projects, making an interruption in public space and reaching people on the street, giving an experience they will remember.

About the project

For decades now, whether during the Soviet Occupation, the Civil War or the Taliban Regime, the Afghan people have been subject to continuous conflict and oppression. As a result, Afghanistan has been starved economically, socially and culturally. Whilst large streams of refugees inundated the cities post 2002, life in more remote areas of the country has remained unchanged, in some instances for decades, in others even for centuries.

It is for this reason that we have chosen Kabul as the next destination for our Monday Morning series, following similar events in Bangalore in India, Nairobi in Kenya, and Yamaguchi in Japan. In each of those places, we disrupted the Monday Morning commute ritual by handing out 10,000 bio-degradable bright balloons, creating a living sculpture that brought about joy, wonderment and a new sense of awareness to people.

To work with birds and working with communication, I´m looking into how to use balloons as a way of sending messages, flying around in the world. Here a large balloon installation, very playful, something I look for in my art.